Non-refillable bottle.



H. -B. RODGERS & W. s. RIGHTER.

NON-RBFILLABLE BOTTLE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 24, 1908. RENEWED MAY 7, 1910.

997,094, Patented July 4, 1911.

Elvwentom' COLUMIA PLANDGRAPH c0.. wAsmNu'roN, D. c.

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UN STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY B. RODGERS AND WILLIAM S. RICHTER, 0F CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA,

ASSIGNORS T0 DOUGLAS R. WARFIELD AND JULIAN L. EYSMANS, OF CHAMBERS-BURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

NON-REFILLABLE BOTTLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 24, 1908, Serial No. 422,956. Renewed May '7,1910. Serial No. 560,064.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY B. RODGERS and TVILLIAM S. RICHTER, citizensof the United States, residing at Chambersburg, in the county ofFranklin and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Non-Refillable Bottles, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention contemplates certain new and useful improvements innon-refillable bottles, and the object of the invention is an improvedstopper which is designed to be secured in the mouth of the bottle tocontrol the same so as to permit the contents of the bottle to escapefreely from the mouth but to effectually prevent any liquid from beingsubsequently injected into the bottle to fraudulently refill the latter.

With this and other objects in view that will more fully appear as thedescription proceeds, the invent-ion consists in certain constructionsand arrangements of the parts that we shall hereinafter fully describeand claim.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof,reference is to be had to the following description and the accompanyingdrawing, in which: Y

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the upper portion of our improvednon-refillable bottle, showing the latter in an upright position; Fig. 2is a similar view showing the position of the valve element when thebottle is tilted to a pouring position; Fig. 3 is a section on the lineaa of Fig. 1; and, Fig. 4t is a detail view in perspective of thestopper.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawing, by the samereference characters.

Our improved stopper is designed to be applied to an ordinary bottle,the body portion 1 of which is provided with a. neck 2 leadingtherefrom, the neck being formed at its juncture with the body portionwith an interior annular ridge constituting an upwardly facing shoulder3. The stopper 4 is cylindrical in shape so as to conform to the contourof the inner surface of the neck 2, and is designed to be cemented orotherwise secured therein, after the bottle has been filled, with themarginal portion of its lower end abut-ting against the shoulder 3 toprevent the stopper from being pushed through the neck 2 into the bodyport-ion of the bottle. This stopper is constructed of glass or thelike, and is formed in its periphery, intermediate of its ends, with atransversely extending annular channel 5, a tubular opening or passage 6leading centrally from the upper end of the stopper and extendingdownwardly therefrom through the upper portion of the stopper, with itslower end offset obliquely laterally and in communication with thechannel 5. A tubular passage 7 leads centrally from the lower end of thestopper and extends upwardly therethrough, with its upper end deflectedobliquely laterally and communicating with the channel 5 at adiametrically opposite point to the opening (3, the upper end of saidpassage being preferably flared to form a downwardly tapering valve seat8. This seat is adapted to be closed by a ball valve 9 which ispreferably of less specific gravity than the liquid contained in thebottle, although not necessarily so. The ball valve may be constructedof aluminum, glass, glass and cork combined, or of any other suitablematerial or materials of a non-corroding nature. The ball valve may benormally held seated in any approved manner, although the preferredmeans for effecting this result, includes a weight 10 which is of anysuitable shape and is secured to the ball valve by means of a flexibleconnection 11 passing through the passage 7. The weight is movablefreely within the body portion 1 of the bottle and is of greaterdiameter than the passage 7 so as to be prevented from moving into thesame, the Weight being normally suspended below the lower end of thestopper so as to exert the desired tension on the valve.

The lower end of the stopper 4 is tapered downwardly so as to extendinto the body portion of the bottle and form an annular shoulder 12facing the wall thereof, the upper end of said stopper being alsotapered, as indicated at 13, and extending beyond the upper end of theneck 2 to constitute a spout so as to permit any liquid dischargedthrough the opening 6 to be more c0nven iently poured into the desiredreceptacle.

In the practical use of our improved nonrefillable bottle the latter isinverted, and when in an inverted or nearly inverted position, theweight 10 is supported entirely upon the wall of the body portion 1 ofthe bottle, and thus exerts no tension upon the flexible connection 11,but permits the ball valve 9 to fall from its seat 8 to 'openthe latterand establish communication between the interior of the bottle and themouth portion thereof, the liquid in the bottle flowing through thepassage 7 into the channel 5, and being then discharged through theopening 6. The shoulder 12 prevents the weight 10 from rolling over thepassage 7 to close the latter when the bottle. is in an invertedposit-ion. Any attempt'to siphon or otherwise inject liquid into thebottle when the latter is in an inverted position, is frustrated, sincethe ball valve 9 will thus be forced against its valve seat 8 toeffectually close the latter. When the bottle is in an upright positionor any position intermediate ofthe same and a substantially invertedposition, the weight 10 obviously serves to hold the ball valve 9securely seated. The peculiar construction of the opening 6 and thechannel 5 serves to battle any attempts to tamper with thevalveelements, by inserting an instrument through the opening 6 to raisethe ball'valve 8 from its valve seat.

It is to be understood that if it is more convenient. tofill the bottleafter the stopper 4 has been secured therein, a flexible wire may bedetachably connected to the ball valve 8 before the stopper is securedin position, and may be manipulated to raise the ball valve to permitthe bottle to be filled, said wire being then withdrawn.

From the above description, in connection with the accompanying drawing,it will be apparent that we have provided a simple,

durable'and efficient construction of device, which may be readilyapplied to a bottle, which eflectually prevents the latter from 'beingrefilled even when the bottle is subwe claim is A bottle stoppercomprising a plug of uniform diameter throughout and adapted to besecured in the neck of a bottle, said plug having'a sinuous passage ofsubstantially uniform area therethrough with a valve seat intermediatethe ends of the same, said plug being further provided with an extensionat the inner end and surrounding the lower end of the passage, a valvewithin said passage and operating to close the lower portion thereof, acombined weight and stop, and a flexible element connecting the stop andvalve and extending through the lower portion of the passage andoperating to engagethe extension when the bottle is inverted, and alsooperating to prevent the escape of the valve, but permitting it to movelaterally and avoid obstructing the outflow of'the material.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

HARRY B. RODGERS. a 8; WILLIAM s. RICHTER. a 8.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM LoorIB'AUM, J. H. SOLLENBERGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

